Average hourly earnings growth held at 3.2% over the past year, a notch below Dow Jones estimates of 3.3%. The monthly gain was 0.2%, below the expected 0.3% increase, bringing the average to $27.77. The average work week also dropped 0.1 hours to 34.4 hours.

Unemployment was last this low in December 1969 when it hit 3.5%. At a time when many economists see a tight labor market, big job growth continues as the economic expansion is just a few months away from being the longest in history.

Georgia Senator David Perdue toured the Scotts Miracle-Gro Growing Media Plant on Ga. Highway 42 in Jenkinsburg Wednesday afternoon and said it is a place lawmakers in Washington need to visit to understand the working people in America.

“Having been an old manufacturing guy, I always look forward to invitations from manufacturing plants in Georgia,” Perdue said. “Georgia is the best place in the country to do business. Part of that are companies just like Miracle-Gro. When they look at the investments they make down here, they continue to grow.

“We’ve worked hard from a federal level to get the economy going again, and these people are certainly benefitting from that,” he added. “And I wanted a chance to come see the operation and meet the people here and get a lay of the land. I heard a little bit about it a few weeks ago and wanted to see it for myself.”

Headquartered in Ohio, Scotts Miracle-Gro is the world’s largest marketer of branded consumer products for lawn and garden care. The company recently expanded operations at its Jenkinsburg facility. The plant has been open for more than 40 years and employs 56 full-time and 45 seasonal workers. It produces 110,000 bags of mulch a day, with an average of 150 tractor-trailer loads of fertilizer leaving the plant daily.

Perdue said the Scotts Miracle-Gro facility is representative of what Georgia has to offer in both products and people.

“This is Georgia. Ag is about half of our GDP (Gross Domestic Product), and they’re using God-given raw material from right here out of our forests,” Perdue said. “Having been a big consumer of Miracle-Gro in the past, I know their mediums and mulches are really high quality. You can see the safety procedures they have in the plant, and this is what it is really all about.

“A lot of people in Washington who make these rules about business have never been in a place like this. These are the honest-to-goodness working men and women of America. They’re right here in Georgia, and this is how I grew up, how these people grew up, and this is a great job for this area – one of the largest employers in the area – so I’m delighted with their success here.”

Plant Manager Adam Davis took Perdue, along with State Sen. Burt Jones, Butts County Commission Chairman Ken Rivers, Butts County Sheriff Gary Long and Chief Deputy Arthur White and others on the tour and said his employees were happy Sen. Perdue wanted to see their plant.

“We’re excited the senator visited the facility today,” Davis said. “We showed him around, showed him what we do, showed him our operation. This facility has been in the community for 40-plus years. It is a big contributing economic factor out here. We’re excited to have him out.”

U.S. Senator David Perdue of Georgia toured Valmiera Glass Group’s production plant in Dublin on Thursday.

He also met with employees and says the company is helping out the midstate economy.

“Just last year they hired over 450 people. Brand new jobs here in Dublin. It is a highlight of what I get to do, I am excited about what is going on here, these people are on a growth trajectory. There is new technology, new equipment coming here, new training, new people and it is just a vibrant part of our economy,” Purdue said.

Valmiera Glass produces glass fibre fabrics that are used for many technical applications and industries worldwide. Purdue

“I asked them, ‘So why are you here?’ and they said, ‘Well it is a good job, they train you.’ In fact they sent 100 people just over the last year back to Latvia to be trained in this process. It is a very high-tech, very specialized process. You don’t find a lot of companies doing that anywhere in the world,” he says. “This is the best combination here in Valmiera, of apprenticeships, training, technical school cooperation and training, and follow up here inside with employees.”

Our country has suffered a series of unprecedented natural disasters over the last year. Hurricanes in the Southeast, wildfires in California, earthquakes in Alaska, and floods in the Midwest have left millions of Americans in desperate need of help from the federal government.

Congress had an opportunity to pass a $13.6 billion disaster aid package that would have provided immediate assistance to people who are suffering. Senate Democrats voted against it.

Why? Democrats said Republicans were unwilling to provide adequate funding for Puerto Rico. That is absolutely ridiculous.

Here’s what really happened behind closed doors:

Last December, disaster aid got caught up in the border security debate and was left out of the spending bill. Senate Republicans went back to Senate Democrats to see what was needed in order to make a deal on disaster relief as soon as possible.

It was determined that $600 million to extend the food assistance program in Puerto Rico was most critical since the program was set to expire at the end of March.

I personally brought this updated request to the president, and he agreed to it.

We added the $600 million to our bill in the Senate, and then we voted on April 1st. I wish this was the end of the story. It’s not.

Democrats cowered to their political self-interests and their leadership and killed our disaster relief bill on the floor of the United States Senate.

We gave Democrats exactly what they asked for, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., decided to change course and hold disaster relief victims hostage in a misguided effort to extract concessions from Republicans on a number of unrelated topics, including border security.

Schumer watched carefully as Democratic senators cast their votes on the disaster relief bill. After the senior senator from California, Dianne Feinstein, voted “yes” on the bill – which includes billions for her state – the Democratic leader pulled her aside and then she switched her vote to “no.” At the same time, the other Democratic senator from California, Kamala Harris, was in Nevada campaigning for president and missed the vote entirely. This kind of blind partisanship is exactly what the American people find unacceptable about Washington.

Now, Democrats have started a campaign of manufactured outrage and have purposely misled the American people for their own political gain. They’re pushing headlines like, “Trump’s Grudge Against Puerto Rico Is Blocking Needed Disaster Aid Across The US.” That could not be further from the truth.

President Trump has been resolute in his support of the people of Puerto Rico.

The president has already approved $41 billion in combined disaster aid for Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit the Island. He has also made an additional $50 billion available to Puerto Rico going forward.

As a result, Puerto Rico is set to receive three times more funding than Texas did for Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and nearly double what was appropriated for Hurricane Sandy in 2013.

It’s clear this fight has nothing to do with Puerto Rico funding. For Democrats, this is about obstructing the president and preventing him from keeping his promise to help the American people recover after hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires ravaged their communities.

People in my state have been waiting on federal disaster aid for six months. While the Democratic Leader and his members play politics, Georgia farmers are going bankrupt, California wildfire victims are struggling to rebuild, and Puerto Rican families are losing access to food benefits.

If Democrats truly cared about the people of Puerto Rico, maybe they would listen to them. Puerto Rico’s own representative in Congress, Jenniffer González-Colón, said our bill provides exactly what her constituents need. Specifically, she said, “I urge swift Senate passage of the $600 million funding for the Nutrition Assistance Program. Over 1.3 million of my constituents are already experiencing cuts in their food benefits. Puerto Rico needs this funding and needs it now.”

I’m sick and tired of politicians that claim to be looking out for the little guys, but all they do is treat them like pawns in their power games. Democrats claim they want to be bipartisan, but time and time again, they fail to rise to the occasion.

Democrats may think they’re sticking it to the president, but they’re actually sticking it to the American people. Georgians are paying attention and will not forget how Democrats have abandoned them in their time of need. Mark my words, the American people will remember how President Trump is standing up and fighting for them.

We’ve had an outbreak of bipartisanship in Georgia over the last few days. It appears to be contained. Epidemiologists are blaming the unvaccinated.

Last Friday, U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, was at the annual Fort Valley State University “ham and egg legislative breakfast” with U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga. In fact, the former introduced the latter with these words:

“We have a friend for this state – but not only for this state, but for all the communities across our country and in our territories – in Senator David Perdue.

“He and Sen. [Johnny] Isakson introduced a bill on the Senate [side] to compliment the bill that [Rep. David] Scott and I have worked so hard to get passed through the House…to try to bring relief to all of these communities that have been so devastated.”

Bishop was on safe ground here. The topic, of course, was the frustrating fight in Congress for Hurricane Michael relief aimed at farm communities in southwest Georgia. Partisan sniping on that topic would be not only unseemly, but unwise – given that Bishop’s congressional district includes many of those devastated farms.

Another factor: Many of his constituents are hardcore supporters of President Donald Trump.

On Monday, U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, was on WAGA-TV’s “Good Day Atlanta” to plug an annual job fair he hosts in College Park. By his side was Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, the former Republican governor. The two served in the state Legislature together, when Sonny Perdue was still a Democrat. Scott even introduced Perdue at his Senate confirmation hearing to become a member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet.

Last year, we told you of Scott’s hard-fought effort to put millions of dollars in scholarship funding for historically black colleges and universities into the 2018 farm bill. Ultimately, the Atlanta congressman was successful.

On Monday, with Sonny Perdue at his side, Scott included both Perdue cousins in his victory lap:

‘What is so unique about that program is that Democrats and Republicans came together and accomplished that. And leading the way were Republicans and Democrats right here in Georgia… “Sonny played a pivotal role in helping us get that $80 million. And Sen. David Perdue – I want to give him great recognition. He picked up the ball in the Senate…”

We’d have to say that Scott’s effort is the more daring example of bipartisanship. The 13th Congressional District in northwest metro Atlanta isn’t Trump country – far from it. And we know that Michael Owens, the former chairman of the Cobb County Democratic party, is considering another primary challenge to Scott.

In the midst of what’s likely to be a bitter 2020 presidential contest, bipartisan cooperation can be easily twisted into bipartisan collaboration.